Waxing, Flying and More Flying

 8-28-2020

I spent the day up on the scaffolding waxing the upper part of the motor home.

8-29-2020

The wind forecast for today wasn't too bad so we went flying.  It turned out to be a nice day, I only flew three planes but I had a great time with them.

It is nice taking a break in the motor, having a snack and visiting with Vera.

There were only two others out flying today.  I test flew Joel's new 4-Star for him, it flew great and only needed a couple of trim adjustments.  I took this picture as I was making sure everything was locked up.

8-30-2020

I had so much fun yesterday and the forecast for today was so good we decided to go flying again.  There was a much bigger turnout today, we counted sixteen club members there during the day.

People would come and go during the day so it was never too crowded.

Ralph a member from Vancouver built this Fokker DR-1 triplane during the virus lock down.  He found this paint scheme that was used by Lothar von Richthofen during WW1.  He chose it because he is having some vision problems and it shows up good in the sky. 

This is Steve's Starduster II, the gas pumps at Kelso airport were broken so he flew to the Toledo airport to fuel the plane.  I taught Steve to fly radio control when he was twenty one years old.  He is now fifty eight and has had his pilots license for a year and a half and is learning aerobatics with the Starduster.  He walked over to the flying field and visited, it was nice to see him and get caught up with what he is doing.

I didn't know Vera had taken this picture until I downloaded the pictures from the camera.  I have so much fun shooting touch and goes with the Skylane, it is normally the first and last plane I fly each day.

I mounted a video camera on my F-15 today, this is a screen capture during a pass over the runway.  It was a great day of flying and visiting with friends.

On it's wheels!

 

Since the garage sale I have been working on the motor home and the Kitfox.  The screws I needed for the Kitfox landing gear showed up and I got it all put together and sitting on it's wheels for the first time.  I also painted the ailerons but got some over spray on the other side so I sanded them and did a second coat.  I am not happy with it either so after they cure I will sand them and try again.  On the motor home after I washed the roof I pulled both air conditioner covers off and cleaned them up.  One of them must have been replaced at some time as it is a light gray so it will get a paint job once the paint gets here.  I have also been replacing rusty trim screws with stainless steel screws.  The motor home and Mitsubishi both got washed again after cleaning the motor home roof as lots of junk ended up on them.  Lately the wind has been blowing pretty good every day so I haven't done any flying but I have no problem staying busy around here.

Family Garage Sale

 This picture was taken shortly after I got down to the family garage sale this morning as everyone was getting set up.  I managed to get the back of Mona and Barry's heads.  There were already people shopping even though it wasn't eight yet.

This picture was taken about three during a lull in the shoppers, most of the time the driveway was almost plugged with cars.  Once there was even a U-Haul truck parked up by the road, we thought they might be some serious shoppers.  I had a great time visiting the family we have not seen much of during the Covid 19 thing.

Washing the roof

 

I spent the majority of the day between rain showers washing the motorhome's roof.  I did one half and then turned it around so I could do the second, I feel safer working with the storage container behind me.  I also washed the storage container roof which had a winters worth of debris on it.  When the rain got too heavy I went in the shop and got some stuff ready for the family garage sale tomorrow.

Waxing again

 

8-18-2020

We filled our strawberry planter with succulents this year and the Mother Hen and Chicks is blooming a first for us.  Both Vera and I ended up taking pictures of it today.

8-19-2020

I was using up some frosting left over from Jordon's birthday party at lunch time today.  I was looking at Facebook and decided to really load up a graham cracker with frosting and post it as an experiment of how much would fit on the cracker.  I had a good time watching the reactions.

This afternoon I assembled the Kitfox's landing gear to see how it looked after painting and covering.  Now I am waiting for the correct length bolts and axles so I can finish that part.

8-20-2020

Today we took the recycling down to drop off site.  When we got home we washed the Blazer, Smart Car, Mitsubishi and the half of the motorhome that was in the shade.  Then I worked on a plane I got from our friend Steve's estate.  I am making a few minor changes and repairs.  I had a good laugh with Chandell our UPS driver about the graham cracker when she brought a package, we are friends on Facebook so she had seen the post.  This afternoon I got the top half of the motorhome's rear cap waxed.  My timing was great, after putting things away I did a little work on the plane and then decided to fly a quad since it was so calm out.  It was a big surprise when I opened the door and it was raining.  This quad has a body so I flew it in the rain while standing under the eves.

Flying

 We went flying at Toledo today.  It was a big surprise when we walked out to leave and it was raining.  I had to use the wipers most of the way to Exit 57, then it let up.  When we got to the flying field it was sprinkling again.  By the time I had put the awning out and got set up it had quit.  There was no wind so I shot touch and goes with the Skylane for the whole first flight, lots of fun because I could do both left and right hand patterns.  Then I flew the F-4 Phantom, I am getting used to it and got nice landings after both flights today.  I also made a couple of nice flights with the Bob Hoover P-51.  We left earlier than normal to beat the heat plus the wind was picking up as I loaded up and said my good byes.  On the way home we dumped the holding tanks and filled up with gas.  I spent the afternoon and evening working on the Kitfox.  I knew I had painted the landing gear but I could not find it, I do a good job of hiding things from myself at times.  As I was heading in for the evening I spotted them hanging on a piece of wire in the shop's front room.

Jordon's Birthday Party

 8-15-2020

Michelle had made a quilt for Josie so Emmy came by for a few minutes just before the party started to pick it up.

Josie had a big smile for us, she is sure a cutie!

Jordon is with his great grandma just before the party started.

Debbie had provided a Mexican food party tray for dinner.  I tried several different things and they were all great.

This is Jordon while we were singing Happy Birthday to him.

Debbie had to give him some help blowing out the candles, I don't know what happened to the third candle.

Jordon was really excited about the Walkie Talkies he got.

Jacob was punching buttons on his like crazy.

There is the secret project I was working on.  A friend was giving stuff away because he was moving into a smaller place.  The jeep looked good so I bought all new electronics and batteries for it.  It took several days to rewire it and the boat we gave him so that was the big secret.

Michelle took this picture of him running it for the first time.

Jacob got presents also and his grandma was helping him open them.

Jordon is showing off his new xylophone to Vera. 

After all the presents were opened Debbie had Jordon go around thanking everyone.

While I was showing the motor home to Mik and Josh, Jacob wanted in and Mik took this picture of him in the drivers seat.

Jordon was getting the new transmitter figured out and ran the Jeep almost until they left.

Trip to Olympia

 

8-10-2020 Monday morning we made our weekly trip down to Fred Meyer to pickup our grocery order.  On the way home there was a wreck by Lions Pride Park that had part of the road blocked so I turned into the park to watch for a few minutes.  I took this picture while Vera walked down toward the accident.

It turned out the dark colored pickup had pulled out in front of the dump truck.  The pickup didn't look good but I couldn't see a scratch on the dump truck from where I took the picture.  This afternoon I finished waxing the front of the motor home and it turned out great.

8-11-2020 We went flying today, there were just 4 sets of flyers this time.  The yellow plane in the forward compartment hasn't been flown for a while because I broke the prop and didn't have a spare.  The props showed up the other day so I got it out today and flew it a couple of times then I put it in the shade of the awning.  A dust devil came through later and was blowing everything around, the plane got blown backwards clear out by the table but wasn't damaged.

The front turned out so nice that I set the scaffolding up to do the back after we got home from flying.

I went to Olympia today for a visit with Barry.  I made a stop at Costco, then Home Depot and the hobby shop first because I knew he had an early service appointment scheduled for the Jeep.  This scooter they have sitting on the coffee table is really cute.

Barry took me to the Firecreek Grill for lunch.  It was sure pleasant out on the patio with a view of the golf course.  The food is great and very generous servings because we both took enough home to have dinner with.

I had a really nice time visiting with Barry today and seeing what they have done with their house.

They have put their house on the market and it has been shown several times.  There was a showing today at four so I headed out shortly after lunch.  I took the slow way home until I hit Dairy Queen for a blizzard then I hurried home so I could have some of it.

Finally Step One is done!

 

I finished the four doors on this side and the top of the cab today so now I have the first step of the process done.  When Vera took this picture I was trying the next step which is wax on the area I cleaned this afternoon.

This afternoon I installed this insulation in the motorhome cupboards.  They get pretty warm when the sun is hitting the wall behind them.  Barry's friends Mark and Lynne did it to their motorhome and said it really helps.  I got the first part of the secret project done and tested it in the driveway.

Cleaning the MotorHome and working on a secret project

 

There was sure a lot of dirt around the marker lights.  I worked on them for a long time and there is still a couple of spots I want to clean some more.

I also took off that antenna that is sticking up right in front of me.  I put an FM antenna on the windshield that works fairly well.  I still want to mount a 2 meter amateur band antenna by the divers window in place of the CB antenna that is there now.  No pictures of the other project, maybe next weekend I will put some up.

A nice day of flying at Toledo

 8-6-2020  We went to the Vancouver Costco this morning and took advantage of the senior hours from nine to ten.  It went great and we were back home shortly after eleven.  After unloading I spent most of the remaining day loading up to fly on Thursday.  I had my pedometer in my pocket and we walked 4000 steps in Costco.  Of course I remembered I wanted some oil that was on sale when we were in the pharmacy and the oil was at the opposite corner of the warehouse.  Then Vera asked one of the Costco employees where the air freshener was and naturally is was clear on the other side from where we were.

8-7-2020

We got to the field shortly after eight this morning.  It was after lunch before I remembered to get the camera out and take some pictures.  The first thing I saw was a group discussing what repairs were needed on the boxes.

There was a pretty good turnout today, I counted 6 rigs there most of the day.

Ken was flying his P-47 Thunderbolt today and he made some great landings that had everyone applauding.

Teresa has just taken off with her Timber.  On the bench is my F-15 that I put the new fan into.  It flies and sounds great now.

Audrey is shooting a touch and go with Mt St Helens in the background.  It is nice to have the ladies flying, I didn't get a picture when Victoria was flying.

There is not much snow left on Mt St Helens.

After we got home I set up the scaffolding and started cleaning the top of the nose cap.  I found all kinds of dirt around the INTRUDER decals, I don't think it has ever had a good cleaning.